One year after their sons were killed by terrorists in Benghazi, the parents of Ty Woods and Sean Smith said they continue to distrust the official account of that night’s rescue effort, and called for public testimony by people who served on the ground in Libya.

Patricia Smith of San Diego told a congressional committee Thursday that her State Department officer son, Sean, was left by his government to die when terrorists attacked a rented diplomatic villa in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, the beginning of a nine-hour siege.

“My miracle baby was abandoned in Benghazi, that I couldn’t spell before but I can now,” said the Clairemont resident, testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in Washington, D.C.

“I have been ignored by the State Department. I’ve been told I was unimportant, and I had to find out everything I know by going on the Internet and asking questions,” she said. “I hate to put it in the record, but it’s been pure hell living through this and not getting any answers.”

Video from the House Oversight and Reform Committee

Thursday was another chapter in the political debate over Benghazi, an enduring scandal that in recent months has prompted committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, to hold a series of hearings focused on the validity of an official investigation into the attacks. That debate continued this week, with the chairman and vice chairman of the Accountability Review Board getting a public forum to defend their work.

Charles Woods said more witnesses are necessary.

Woods, father of the Navy SEAL-turned government security officer from Imperial Beach, said he has been told by people close to the fight that Ty Woods was told three times to “stand down” that night.

His son was stationed at a nearby CIA compound in Benghazi and led a team in the early hours of the attack to try to rescue Smith and his boss, Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

“We need to ask people who were there, not rely upon hearsay evidence, as to whether or not there was an order to stand down,” Woods told the committee.

“When is … important. Because Ambassador Stevens was alive for a substantial period of time after he made that initial distress call,” Woods said. “It’s very possible there would have been no loss of life if that first order to stand down had not been given.”

The sentiments of these parents echoed the thrust of day-long questioning by committee Republicans.

Issa said he was issuing subpoenas Thursday for two State Department regional security officers who were in charge of communications the night of the attacks.

They are John Martinec, who was stationed in Tripoli, and Alec Henderson, who was in Benghazi. Issa said State Department officials have tried to block access to these men.

“We will not end our investigation until all of your questions are answered,” Issa told Smith and Woods.

Stevens died from smoke inhalation about 90 minutes into the attack. Also killed was former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, an Encinitas resident working as a government defense contractor.

Doherty was in Tripoli when the Benghazi fight began. He and six others jumped on a plane and rushed to defend the CIA compound there when it came under fire.

He and Woods, friends in life, were killed together on the roof of the CIA location when it was hit by mortar fire.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the authors of an Accountability Review Board report from late last year defended and stood by their findings — many of which directly refute the concerns raised by Woods and Smith.

Retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified repeatedly that there was never an order to stand down the rescue effort.

He said U.S. military units mustered and wanted to help, but their desire was stymied in part by the physical distance they would have had to cover to reach Benghazi in time, in part by the logistics required to scramble a jet and line up refueling tankers, for example.

“We are not big enough in the military to be everywhere around the world to respond to every embassy that might be high risk,” said Mullen, who served as vice chairman of the Accountability Review Board on Benghazi.

“They didn’t fall down on the job. I just completely disagree with that point of view.”

Mullen and former Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas Pickering spent most of the day in the hot seat. They threw their considerable reputations behind their report, which criticized four mid-level State Department officials for management failings in advance of the attack.

The report did not find fault with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or her undersecretaries — a point that has riled many Republicans. Another point of controversy is that Clinton wasn’t interviewed by the accountability board.

The comments from some Republicans on the committee got rather sharp.

“The majority of people in my district feel that your report was a whitewash,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. “They feel the government let them down. … Nobody’s been fired. Nobody’s been dismissed. No one’s been arrested for the murders.”

Pickering said he is proud of the report, which he described as hard-hitting but not perfect.

“I feel that this report is still on the mark, free of cover up and political tilt,” he said.

Mullen also defended his work.

“We had unfettered access to State Department personnel and documents. There were no limitations,’’ said the retired admiral, who served on the joint chiefs under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

‘‘We received the full cooperation of all witnesses and every State Department office. We interviewed everyone we thought it was necessary to interview. We operated independently and were given freedom to pursue the investigation as we deemed necessary.’’

Republicans hammered what they portrayed as flaws in the independence of the accountability report’s preparation.

Mullen acknowledged that a final draft was given to Clinton and Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former State Department chief of staff, before it became public.

Also Mullen said he gave Mills a “heads-up” that one witness who would be called by Congress — Charlene Lamb, former deputy assistant secretary for international programs in the diplomatic security bureau — could be a “difficult appearance” for the State Department.

On Thursday, Mullen said he thought Lamb wouldn’t “represent the department well” and alerted Mills because he himself had run a department and had worked in that capacity to provide the best witnesses for Congress.

Democrats came to the defense of Pickering and Mullen and their work.

“There have been some extremely serious accusations that the ARB was a 'whitewash' and a 'cover up,' ” said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee’s senior Democrat.

“When I hear those kinds of statements, and I read the depositions and listen to you Ambassador Pickering, those kinds of statements upset me because I think that they are so unfair, and we’re better than that.”

Thursday’s hearing was potentially the end of the role of Pickering and Mullen, but there were no signs it would end the debate over Benghazi and who is responsible.

Several Republicans said they would press on, as the issue is still being raised by voters in their districts.